


Present

by rustandstardust



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-18
Updated: 2012-04-18
Packaged: 2017-11-03 20:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/385652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rustandstardust/pseuds/rustandstardust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Albus receives a present from Gellert. A very...bright present.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Present

**Author's Note:**

> It's my headcanon that Albus was so attached to Fawkes because he was a present from Gellert, a gift from that long-ago summer where everything had seemed alright.

‘I brought you something, Albus,’ Gellert said.  A gloved hand swept a gesture to Albus’s bedside table where his half-filled cup of cold tea from the night before sat next to a blurry orange object. He rubbed his eyes blearily and set the book he’d fallen asleep reading on the floor and put on his half-moon spectacles; the unfamiliar object swam into focus - it looked like an egg. He reached out to touch it, inherently curious, but thought better of it, instead looking to Gellert and his twinkling blue eyes and his highly amused (and smug) smile.

‘It’s beautiful, wherever did you find something so exquisite?’ Albus asked as he stretched the sleep out of his bones and yawned; it turned his face into quite an alarming expression for a few moments, a combination of the yawn and his bright smile.

“Some silly muggle ‘antinque’ dealer. He thought it was treasure; it seems he went to Peru and found it there – thought it to be some discolored keepsake from the ancient Aztecs, or perhaps some derivation of Russian Fabergé egg that had traveled across continents over the years. When I expressed my interest in it, well…he gave it to me.” Gellert explained, his smile stretching just a bit too wide, a bit too self-assured.

“Gave?” Albus asked with the barest hint of a frown, the arch of an eyebrow. “I trust that saying it was given to you is a bit of a stretching of the truth, Gellert?”

“Already you know me too well, Albus…it was only a weak usage of the Imperius curse, Albus, calm down. He seemed fine afterwards…” he dismissed the accusation with a wave of his hand, a flick of his wrist as he sat on the edge of the bed and leaned to kiss him, the barest brush of their lips.

“Thank you for both the fine present, and such a lovely, affectionate gesture so early in the morning, but I won’t accept this.” Albus reached out to touch the egg-shaped object, long fingers sliding it a few inches across the tabletop in clear dismissal, but his touch lingered quite obviously. The egg was warm; it pulsed slightly, like something inside had a heartbeat, as if it was living and breathing in tandem with his own rapidly beating heart.

“What is it, Gellert…?” he asked, hesitant; afraid to let his curiosity show.

“I think you know what it is, Albus…surely you’ve seen it in those textbooks that you bury your nose in on a daily basis,” the blonde drawled, a hint of mocking malice in his tone to complement the knowing smirk on his face.

 “It couldn’t possibly be a phoenix egg, Gellert. They’re extraordinarily rare, and surely the subtle strength of the magic would prevent its apprehension by Muggle hands…” Albus explained flatly, his voice trailing off towards the end, as if he was doubting his own knowledge (something that didn’t seem to happen often). “Besides, I don’t approve of your methods, and quite frankly I’m offended that you’d attempt to give me something that you acquired under such contemptible means.”

Gellert’s face was inches from Albus’s quicker than a heartbeat, their foreheads pressed together and eyes locked. “Stop pretending to be so saint-like and furious with me, and admit that you’re thrilled. I saw your fingers caress it…”

_Were they still talking about the gift,_ Albus wondered, _or something else that radiated a certain comfortable warmth and proved just as alluring as the egg?_ It was difficult to tell with his companion sometimes.

“I saw the way you looked at it…I can promise you, that’s a genuine phoenix egg, and it’s for you. I would have paid him if he seemed eager to sell it, but unfortunately he wasn’t.” It frightened Albus, how nonchalantly Gellert spoke of it, the way he waved off something that would have haunted his own conscience for eternity. He repressed it.

“That doesn’t mean…Gellert, those curses are referred to as ‘unforgivable’ for a reason,” Albus protested, shaking his head and pushing a lock of auburn hair his ear, an ear which Gellert kissed.

“I won’t do it again, love, promise,” he chuckled as he moved away, picking the egg up off of the night-table and admiring its warm golden glow for a few moments, the way certain specks on the shell seemed to twinkle like stars in the early morning sunlight. “Tomorrow I’ll be sweet and good and everything you want me to be, but today, accept it. Here, hold it. It’s your present, Albus.”

Albus cupped his hands like a traveler in the desert awaiting water from a cool metal ladle, laced thin fingers together to hold it as Gellert set it into his hands.“Why are you so insistent that I have it, Gellert?”

“You seem so _obsessed_ with the idea of resurrection and rebirth, given your preoccupation with the Stone, since…well, recently, and when I saw this for what it was it seemed startlingly appropriate, I thought.” Albus saw his point – what better representative of death and rebirth existed than a phoenix? “Was I…incorrect, hmm?”

“Are you ever?” Albus asked with a gentle smile as he ran his finger down the contour of the red-gold egg, enjoying the way it warmed his fingertips. “This is perfect, friend.  Although, in every bit of lore I’ve read and every ancient rune I’ve translated that mentions these beautiful birds, I’ve always read that they only hatch for a person of their choosing, and never re-align loyalties again. I fear that, beautiful as this present may be, it may prove uneventful.”

Just then, the egg glowed white-hot and spread tingling warmth through each and every nerve of his fingertips, pulsing through each pore. Albus looked amazed, Gellert looked severely pleased. It wasn’t particularly _comfortable_ , the way the heat increased, but it wasn’t painful-not quite, not yet. The warmth prickling his skin was not the kind of burn one would get from a campfire’s flames, but more the sort of tingle that resonated from extremely powerful objects, the type of sensation that resulted from strong magic.

“Don’t let go.”  Gellert whispered, his hands wrapping around Albus’s wrists. “Phoenix eggs will only hatch for someone worthy, you’re right. And the person holding them for the first time they are born becomes the one they swear their allegiance to.” Albus held the egg through the entirety of its ordeal, from the subtle pulse of warmth to the almost excruciating burn, and he barely even flinched when flames licked tendrils up his hands. They didn’t scorch, but they stayed as subtle imprints on his skin for a few moments before fading, like shadows he wasn’t sure he’d really seen. After what seemed like forever, the egg cracked into hundreds of small pieces, and they became gold stardust as they fell onto his thin legs, the rumpled bedspread. What came out of it was  not the sparkling, magnificent bird with deep scarlet and bright orange-yellow plumage he’d seen paintings of (and of course not, what creature, from human to beast, looked its exquisite self at the moment it entered the world? To expect so would be ludicrous), but something that looked more like a small, plucked chicken – it looked almost…obscenely nude, small, helpless; with large, glassy black eyes and a fleshy-colored beak. It chirped once, inclined its head to nuzzle against Albus’ thumb.

Gellert’s disgust was obvious; there was a scoff of distaste and he recoiled slightly, reaching out the tip of a finger hesitantly. “Oh,” he said, his elegant nose wrinkling in disapproval. “It’s so…small...and Albus really, it’s rather ugly. Perhaps this one was found by a muggle for a reason? I’d abandon something if it was that useless, too.”  
  


Something about Gellert’s words frightened him, affected him in a way he’d remember for years. “I think he’s absolutely splendid…truly, Gellert, this will forever be the best present I’ve ever received,” he said, holding his cupped hands with the baby phoenix resting inside gingerly up to his face and nuzzling against the bird’s wrinkled head, felt his tiny wings flutter against the tip of his nose and he laughed . “He’s beautiful, and his name…is Fawkes.”


End file.
